Relations between the Obama and Netanyahu administrations have finally hit rock bottom

In
this Sept. 30, 2016 file photo, US President Barack Obama, left,
and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talk during the
funeral of former Israeli President and Prime minister Shimon
Peres in Jerusalem.Associated
Press/Menahem Kahana

HONOLULU (AP) — It took eight years of backbiting and pretending
they got along for relations between President Barack Obama's
administration and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government
to finally hit rock bottom.

Though they've clashed bitterly before, mostly notably over Iran,
the two governments seemed farther apart than ever after a speech
Wednesday by Secretary of State John Kerry and last week's United
Nations resolution.

The key question for the Obama administration, newly willing to
air grievances with Israel on live television, is why now?

"We cannot, in good conscience, do nothing and say nothing when
we see the hope of peace slipping away," Kerry said in a speech
that ran more than an hour.

Yet in just over three weeks, Obama will no longer be president,
Kerry will no longer be secretary of State, and the U.S. will
have a new leader under no obligation to embrace any of what
Kerry said. President-elect Donald Trump has assured Israel that
things will be different after Jan. 20, when he's to be
inaugurated, and lamented how the Jewish state was "being treated
very, very unfairly."

Kerry took pains to voice America's staunch commitment to
Israel's security and support for its future, and to detail U.S.
complaints about Palestinian leadership and its failure to
sufficiently deter violence against Israelis. He laid out a
six-point framework for a potential peace deal that it will be up
to the next U.S. government to try to enact, if it chooses to do
so.

The White House has portrayed Obama's decision to break with
tradition by abstaining — rather than vetoing — a U.N. Security
Council resolution declaring Israeli settlements illegal as a
reaction forced by other countries that brought it up for a vote.

The White House has also acknowledged that Obama had long
considered the possibility of taking some symbolic step before
leaving office to leave his imprint on the debate. For much of
the year, his staff pored over options that included a U.N.
resolution outlining principles for a peace deal and a
presidential speech much like the one Kerry gave Wednesday. Yet
there was reluctance to act before the U.S. election, given the
way it would have thrust the Israeli-Palestinian issue into the
campaign.

Secretary
of State John Kerry speaks at the State Department in Washington,
Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016.Associated
Press/Andrew Harnik

Kerry acknowledged Trump appears to favor a different approach.
Yet frustrated by years of Israeli actions he deemed
counterproductive for peace, Obama appeared to have decided it
was better to make his administration's views known while still
in office, even if it risked a blockbuster clash with America's
closest ally.

In his speech, Kerry tore into Israel for settlement-building,
accusing Netanyahu of dragging Israel away from democracy. He
defended the move to allow the U.N. vote, the spark that set off
an extraordinary and deepening diplomatic spat between the U.S.
and its closest Mideast ally.

"If the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or
democratic, it cannot be both, and it won't ever really be at
peace," Kerry said

Shortly after, Netanyahu appeared on camera in Jerusalem and
suggested he was done with the Obama administration and ready to
deal with Trump. The Israeli leader faulted Kerry for obsessing
over settlements while paying mere "lip service" to Palestinian
attacks and incitement of violence.

"Israelis do not need to be lectured about the importance of
peace by foreign leaders," Netanyahu said.

Trump wouldn't say whether settlements should be reined in. But
he told reporters Israel was being "treated very, very unfairly
by a lot of different people."

In a nod to Netanyahu's concerns that Obama would take more
parting shots, Kerry seemed to rule out the possibility Obama
would support more U.N. action or, even more controversially,
recognize statehood.

The U.S, the Palestinians and most of the world oppose Israeli
settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem,
territories captured by Israel in 1967 and claimed by the
Palestinians for an independent state. But Israel's government
argues previous construction freezes didn't advance peace and
that the settlements — now home to 600,000 Israelis — must be
resolved in direct talks Israelis-Palestinian talks.

While Israel's Arab population has citizenship rights, the
roughly 2.5 million Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank
do not, and most in annexed east Jerusalem have residency rights
but not citizenship.

Kerry said a future deal would have to ensure secure borders for
Israel and a Palestinian state formed in territories Israel
captured in 1967, with "mutually agreed, equivalent swaps." He
said both countries must fully recognize each other, ensure
access to religious sites and relinquish other existing claims.
Kerry also called for assistance for Palestinian refugees.

Recommended For You
Powered by Sailthru

Relations between the Obama and Netanyahu administrations have finally hit rock bottom

HONOLULU (AP) — It took eight years of backbiting and pretending they got along for relations between President Barack Obama's administration and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to finally hit rock bottom.